ACADEMIC ADVISING STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES
WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
The Standards and Guidelines set forth embody the ideal of advising at Western. This
document will direct us in our efforts to provide students an outstanding undergraduate
advising program. The Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) and the NACADA
Statement of Core Values were two resources used to develop this document.
PART 1: MISSION
The mission of the Academic Advising Program (AAP) at Western Illinois University is to
support the overall mission of the University, i.e. to “have a profound and positive impact on
our changing world through the unique interaction of instruction, research, and public
service as we educate and prepare a diverse student population to thrive in and contribute
to our global society.” The primary purpose of the AAP is to assist students in the
development of meaningful educational plans that are compatible with their life goals.
Academic advising should be viewed as a continuous process of clarification and
evaluation.
Students deserve honest, friendly, respectful, dependable, accurate, and professional
service. In order to serve students well, academic advisors understand that they are
responsible to many constituents who comprise our academic communities.
While the ultimate responsibility for making decisions about life goals and educational plans
rests with the individual student, the academic advisor assists by helping to identify and
assess alternatives and the consequences of decisions. Institutional goals for academic
advising should include:
ƒ Development of suitable educational plans
ƒ Clarification of career and life goals
ƒ Selection of appropriate courses and other educational experiences
ƒ Interpretation of institutional requirements
ƒ Enhancement of student awareness about educational resources available (e.g.,
internships, study abroad, honors, and learning assistance programs).
ƒ Evaluation of student progress toward established goals
ƒ Development of student decision-making skills
ƒ Reinforcement of student self-direction
ƒ Referral to and use of institutional and community support services
ƒ Collection and distribution of data regarding student needs, preferences, and
performance for use in making institutional decisions and policy
PART 2: PROGRAM
The academic advising program should identify resources to assist students in overcoming
specific personal, physical, or educational problems or skill deficiencies.
The academic advising program should identify environmental conditions that may
negatively influence welfare and propose interventions that may neutralize such conditions.
Individual academic advising conferences must be available to students each academic
term. The academic advisor should review and utilize any available data about student
academic and educational needs, performance, aspirations, and problems and must
collaborate in collection of such data.
Confidentiality of individual student records must be maintained.
PART 3: HUMAN RESOURCES
The academic advising program must have adequate and qualified staff to fulfill the mission
of that service and to implement all aspects of the program. A variety of staffing
arrangements may be used. Advisors may be full-time or part-time professionals who have
advising as their primary function within the institution or may be full-time professionals who
have other responsibilities, such as teaching faculty. Paraprofessionals (i.e., graduate
students in practica, internships, or assistantships) or peer advisors (i.e., trained
undergraduate students) may also assist advisors.
Paraprofessionals must be carefully selected, trained with respect to helping skills and
institutional services and procedures, closely supervised, and evaluated regularly.
Paraprofessionals must recognize the limitations of their knowledge and skills and must
refer students to appropriate professionals when the problems encountered warrant.
To ensure that professional staff members devote adequate time to professional duties, the
academic advising program must have sufficient clerical and technical support staff.
Adequate staff should be available to meet students’ needs without unreasonable delay.
Caseloads should be such that advisors are able to allow an appropriate amount of time for
students to discuss plans, programs, courses, academic progress, and other subjects
related to their educational programs.
Academic advisors should have an appropriate earned degree; an understanding of student
development; a comprehensive knowledge of the institution, its programs, academic
requirements, majors, minors, and student services; a demonstrated interest in working
with and assisting students; a willingness to participate in pre-service and in-service training
and other professional activities; and demonstrated interpersonal skills.
PART 4: FUNDING
The academic advising program must have funding sufficient to carry out its mission and to
support the day-to-day operations and functions of advising. In addition, consideration
should be given to supporting institutional memberships in appropriate professional
organizations; relevant subscriptions and necessary library resources; attendance at
professional association meetings, conferences, and workshops and other professional
3
development activities. Printing and media monies should be sufficient to provide quality
printed and non-print information to support the advising activities. Funding support for inservice training of advisors, particularly those for whom the advisory function is a part-time
or secondary assignment, should be available.
PART 5: FACILITIES
Academic advising must be provided adequate facilities to fulfill its mission. As applicable,
the facilities should include or have access to, the following: private offices or privates
spaces for advising or meetings of a confidential nature; office, reception, and storage
space sufficient to accommodate assigned staff, supplies, equipment, library resources,
and machinery; and conference room or meeting space. Facilities should provide privacy,
freedom from visual and auditory distractions, adequate space, and an atmosphere of
warmth and friendliness.
PART 6: LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Academic advisors must be knowledgeable about and responsive to relevant civil and
criminal laws and must be responsible for ensuring that the institution fulfills its legal
obligations. They must utilize appropriate policies and practices to limit the liability
exposure of the institution, its officers, employees and agents. The institution must provide
access to legal advice to professional staff as needed to carry out assigned responsibilities.
PART 7: EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, ACCESS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The academic advising program must adhere to the spirit and intent of equal opportunity
laws in all activities. The program must ensure that its services and facilities are accessible
to and provide hours of operation that respond to the needs of special student populations.
PART 8: CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Academic advising is an extension of the educational process, which is highly dependent
on a one-to-one relationship. Advising effectiveness is also dependent upon close working
relationships with other institutional agencies, the faculty and the administration.
The academic advising system should be fully integrated into other processes of the
institution. There should be functional and effective relationships with other campus
services, the teaching faculty, administrators and with related areas such as admissions,
records, registration, counseling, and career planning and placement.
PART 9: ETHICS
All persons involved in the provision of advising services to students must maintain the
4
highest standards of ethical behavior.
Certain ethical obligations apply to all individuals employed in the academic advising
program, for example: All advisors must ensure that confidentiality is maintained with
respect to all communications and records considered confidential. Unless the student
gives written permission, information disclosed in individual advising sessions must remain
confidential. In addition, all requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(Buckley Amendment) must be complied with and information contained in students'
educational records must not be disclosed to third parties without appropriate consent,
unless one of the relevant statutory exceptions applied. A similar dedication to privacy and
confidentiality must be applied to research data concerning individuals.
All advisors must recognize the limits of their training, expertise, and competence and must
refer students in need of further expertise to persons possessing appropriate qualifications.
Advisors must insure the accurate presentation of information to the public, students,
parents, colleagues, and subordinates. Brochures, student handbooks, and other materials
prepared for open distribution must accurately represent the institution's goals, services,
programs, and policies.
Advisors must not counsel or aid students in circumventing institutional policies or
regulations. When confronted with situations in which students have violated or
circumvented established policy or norms, the advisor is obliged to address the issue and
refer students to the appropriate agency accordingly.
Advisors are responsible to the college or university in which they work. Advisors respect
the opinions of their colleagues, remain neutral when students present them with
comments, questions, or opinions about other faculty or staff, and are non-judgmental
about academic programs.
PART 10: EVALUATION
Advisors are encouraged to develop and utilize appropriate methods to evaluate the
functions performed in an advising setting. Results of these regular evaluations should be
used in revising and improving the program goals and implementation.
Prepared by a subcommittee of the Council of Advisors
Original submitted 11/25/96
Approved by Provost and Academic Vice-President January 1997
Amended July 15, 1997
Revised 08/27/04